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Kalmar Union
The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia that from 1397 to 1523 joined under a single monarch of the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then including most of Finland), and Norway, together with Norway's overseas dependencies (then including Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the Northern Isles). The union was not quite continuous; there were several short interruptions. Legally, the countries remained separate sovereign states, but with their domestic and foreign policies being directed by a common monarch. History The union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy wishing to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League and, more personally, of Queen Margaret I of Denmark (1353–1412). She was a daughter of King Valdemar IV and had married King Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, who was the son of King Magnus IV of Sweden, Norway and Scania. Margaret succeeded in having her son Olaf recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark. In 1376 Olaf inherited the crown of Denmark from his maternal grandfather as King Olaf II, with his mother as guardian; when Haakon VI died in 1380, Olaf also inherited the crown of Norway. Margaret became regent of Denmark and Norway when Olaf died in 1387, leaving her without an heir. She adopted her great-nephew Eric of Pomerania the same year. The following year, 1388, Swedish nobles called upon her help against King Albert. After Margaret defeated Albert in 1389, her heir Eric was proclaimed King of Norway. Eric was subsequently elected King of Denmark and Sweden in 1396. His coronation was held in Kalmar on 17 June 1397. One main impetus for its formation was to block German expansion northward into the Baltic region. The main reason for its failure to survive was the perpetual struggle between the monarch, who wanted a strong unified state, and the Swedish and Danish nobility, which did not. Diverging interests (especially the Swedish nobility's dissatisfaction with the dominant role played by Denmark and Holstein) gave rise to a conflict that would hamper the union in several intervals starting in the 1430s. Charles Bonde, for example, was made king of Sweden three times by nationalists there, in 1440, 1464 and 1467. The Union lost territory when the Northern Isles were pledged by Christian I in his capacity as King of Norway, as security against the payment of the dowry of his daughter Margaret, betrothed to James III of Scotland in 1468. However the money was never paid, and in 1472 the islands were annexed by the Kingdom of Scotland. The Kalmar union fell apart when Sweden rebelled and became independent on 6 June 1523 and Gustav I of Sweden was elected as king there. One of the last structures of the Union remained until 1536/1527 when the Danish Privy Council, in the aftermath of the Count's Feud, unilaterally declared Norway to be a Danish province, but this did not happen and Norway became a hereditary kingdom in a real union with Denmark. Norway continued to remain a part of the realm of Denmark–Norway under the Oldenburg dynasty for nearly three centuries, until it was transferred to Sweden in 1814. The ensuing Union between Sweden and Norway lasted until 1905, when a grandson of both the incumbent king of Denmark and the late king of Sweden was elected king of Norway; his direct descendants still reign there. Relationships Friends * Crown of Aragon and Castile * Holy Roman Empire * Kingdom of France Past Versions * Kingdom of Denmark * Kingdom of Norway * Kingdom of Sweden Future Versions * Kingdom of Denmark and Norway * Swedish Empire Trivia * Before the Kalmar Union, the Norwegian Vikings were the first Europeans who intended to colonize American lands with the travels of Erik the Red and Leif Erikson: The southern coast of Greenland and Vinland (the coasts of Terra Nova and Labrador, Canada). The main problem with this was that the Vikings had struggles against the Amerindians and were expelled or died. On the other hand, the Vikings themselves traveled the seas of the North Atlantic with a very small crew and were completely unaware of the existence of a new continent. Nor did they disclose the existence of these lands to the European continent or to the Norwegian crown (these stories were sung as an epic through narratives (sagas) that used Norse mythology). A contact between Europe and America would not be seen again until October 12, 1492 when Christopher Columbus announced the existence of the American continent to Europe (beginning the Age of Discoveries throughout the Earth by europeans). ** Contrary to what is used as an internet joke in the United States, there is no conflict between Europeans for their respective explorations and these have been used to strengthen diplomatic relations between them. In fact, this is one of the reasons why a romantic relationship between United Kingdom and France, Norway and Spain, etc. is represented. *Before the Kalmar Union, the Eastern Slavic countries: Belarus, Russia and Ukraine have their origins in the Swedish Vikings. Ironically, there are diplomatic tensions between these countries and the Nordic countries despite sharing an origin. 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